The benefit from use of antibiotics as a means of treating infections has been increasingly compromised by the development of resistant strains of microorganisms. Most of the new drugs are derivatives of older compounds. It is necessary to develop new agents that will respond to the current needs for medicinals that will effectively control pathogenic microbial populations that are resistant to antibiotics.
Halofantrine is a known antimalarial having a phenanthrene ring system substituted by a carbon bound to an oxygen which is also bound to a nitrogen through a saturated CH.sub.2 --CH.sub.2 chain to tertiary nitrogen having two butyl substituents. The phenanthrene ring system is further substituted with 2 chlorines and one trifluoromethyl.